Alfred Russel Wallace was a great Victorian explorer, naturalist, author, geographer, philosopher and anthropologist. Born in Usk, Gwent, in 1823, his formal education ended when he left school at thirteen yet his interest in the natural world and insatiable desire to learn and discover propelled him to become one of the evolutionary thinkers of the nineteenth century and make enormous contributions to science and the development of evolutionary theory.
He co-published the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin in 1858 and through his extensive explorations of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Amazon became the leading expert on the geographical distribution of species.